I remember when I first got my Wii online, I immediately went to try out some flash games. If you found the right mouse controlled stuff, it would become clear that there was territory to be explored.

I was just looking through some things at wiicade.com and thinking about it. I don’t see anything particularly innovative, but they’re pushing and making high quality stuff and that’s really good to see.

I didn’t spot anything that seemed specifically built for the wii. By that I mean, something that didn’t seem just as fun with a mouse. Playing with a wiimote is a different experience, but not by much.

What kind of a game would it take to separate the motes from the mice?

I don’t know really, but I like the gun games and the missile flight one is pretty cool. . . . A sword game could be interesting.

-Christopher J. Rock

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Film student at California State, Long Beach.
I want to make the gaming world a better place.

SomeGuy

If you think that all of WiiCade’s games can only be played with a mouse, then you’re not looking hard enough. Specifically, have you looked at any of the games under the “Featured Games” section? You might want to give SnowBlitz and Territory War a try.

You’re right. I guess I was unfair in the way I spoke. I was generalizing because the mouse/wii contrast seemed to the be the greatest difference between the two platforms. To me, using a D-pad vs arrows is not significant (nice nostalgia though).

Do you disagree?

SomeGuy

Hi Chris!

Actually, I do disagree. A gamepad is a natural control device. Its design is centered around providing a clean and precise gaming experience. The keyboard can emulate the same functions, but the feel isn’t the same at all.

I think the best example of this is SnowBlitz Wii. That games uses EVERY button on the remote to good effect. Playing it on the keyboard just doesn’t have the same feel as the more natural gamepad controls. The author of the game even took the time to add support for the + button. Rather than zooming when you press it, the game pauses just like a real Wii game. It’s quite an experience. 🙂

That’s not to say that this functionality is going to change the world or anything, but it certainly opens up new possibilities. For many homebrewers, it’s pretty darn close to creating a brand-new NES or SuperNES game. For players, it’s like returning to the games of their youth.

I just wish that there were *more* games that made use of these features. Especially since they can be combined with the mouse pointing feature for even more fun. e.g. Remember the tank game in Wii Play? That is perfectly possible on WiiCade. Yet no one has yet jumped in to use the controller in an innovative fashion like that. About the closest thing are the combined controls in Territory War. Close, but not quite.

I’ve looked through the Wiicade API, but not enough to know how it all works. It’d be great to make a game with it and there’s little reason not to add it to pretty much any game. A little extra work I guess, but the bonus would be pretty cool.

Have you coded for Wiicade before? Why do you think it’s rare to see coders take full advantage of the Wiicade API or, for that matter, flash in general?

SomeGuy

I think you answered your own question. Why haven’t you delved into the WiiCade API? A: Because it hasn’t reached enough critical mass to force your hand yet.

Right now the API is looking for early adopters. i.e. People who are excited enough about the Wii to take the time to port their games. They’re starting to trickle in, but it’s a long and slow process.

Hey, how about taking out a few minutes of your time to try and convert the new Loki game? As long as you’re not using any Flash 8-specific features, it’s easy!

Step 1: Set your publish settings to Flash 7.

Step 2: Download the WiiCade API and move the com/wiicade/WiiMote.as structure to the same directory as your FLA.

Step 3: Place the following two lines at the top of each Actionscript you want to use the WiiMote in:

Since you probably want to use the same keyboard scheme as you have now, you can look into the setKeyMapping() API to map the SPACE and CTRL keys to the correct Wii Remote buttons. (I believe you’d want them to be ‘2’ and ‘+’, respectively.)

It’s a thought, anyway. You can always try it on your Wii in the WiiCade sandbox. If you don’t like it, pull it. If you do, publish it. And what better place could there be for playing a platformer than on a Nintendo system? 🙂

Christopher J. Rock

Actually, after looking at the API when I did, I decided I would make my games take advantage of it, but I’m not the go back and update type, especially for LiquidGeneration projects. When the project is done, the project is done and I want to move on to the next concept. Loki is really old news, it just never had a Post-mortem so Bryson popped one up.

Sokay is in a state of transformation right now, but we’ll have some serious games coming up. All the engine code is being cleaned up, sharpened and expanded upon. It’s a lot of work getting all the groundwork done, creating the potential for things to be produced the right way. Don’t worry though, I’m plannin on making the Wiicade API a standard part of our config.

Still, I’m interested in designing a game specifically for the Wii, one that couldn’t or shouldn’t be played on a computer.

In the API, I saw no mention of the wiimote’s gyroscopic measurements. Can any angle or acceration data be accessed by flash? If so, that would be the answer right there.

I suppose if Wiicade is looking for the support, the old platformers could be revamped, but it would have to wait. Just no time for lookin back right now.

To “someguy”: I understand you’re a member of the Wiicade crew. You should not be anonymous. We won’t hurt you. Thanks for visiting the site, by the way.

I’ve seen some of the Wiicade guys’ posts on Flashkit and elsewhere and they all seem persistent with “turning” developers. It’s understandable since the movement has to start somewhere.

Personally, I lack interest in the Wiicade API because games developed with it are only Wii compatible on the Wiicade site. A lot of work has gone into the development of it, for sure, but a genuine interest in promoting Wii development would lift such requirements. I’ve read that there’s something in development that would lift exclusitivity so I’ll wait and see. In addition to that, I don’t even have a Wii.

In the end, I am an artist. And I’d like to reach as big of an audience as I can. I’ll consider converting older work but I don’t have the ability to test it so I’ll have to jump through hoops to get that together.

In response to Chris:
With the browser, you don’t get gyroscopic/accelerometer data so you’re missing out on a lot of what makes the system unique. And as far as I can tell, there’s no multiplayer support as well. I guess you could do something weird with using the buttons and cursor but hey, I’ve got a mouse right here.

SomeGuy

> Iâ€™m not the go back and update type, especially for LiquidGeneration projects.

I can identify with that completely. BTW, I hope I didn’t come across as accusatory in my last post? I was honestly just trying to answer your question. Critical mass is a very difficult thing to achieve for any website or company. 🙂

> Still, Iâ€™m interested in designing a game specifically for the Wii, one
> that couldnâ€™t or shouldnâ€™t be played on a computer.

Sounds like an excellent plan! I think it will take time to figure out what really feels better on the Wii vs. a computer, but I have faith that developers such as yourself will eventually figure it out. A few games have already shown some promise. For example, Yatsha did a port of their shooting game to the Wii using the original Quasimondo interface to access the B button. (Pretty much the only safe button with that interface.) The Wii Remote makes an excellent gun in that game, far better than playing it on a computer.

> In the API, I saw no mention of the wiimoteâ€™s gyroscopic measurements.

As Bryson said, the gyroscopic functions are not available. And to be perfectly honest, I don’t expect that Nintendo will allow it anytime soon. (If ever.) I think it’s far more likely that we’ll get support for the Classic Controller and/or Nunchuck long before the gyroscopic functions are available.

> To â€œsomeguyâ€: I understand youâ€™re a member of the Wiicade crew.

Bryson, if you’re referring to Dave, John, or Aaron, I’m afraid I’m none of them. I’m just some guy on WiiCade’s community forums who provides contributions to the cause. There are actually quite a few of us, with the community really rallying around the cause. 😉

> Iâ€™ve seen some of the Wiicade guysâ€™ posts on Flashkit and elsewhere
> and they all seem persistent with â€œturningâ€ developers.

On FlashKit? Really? I always thought they were ignoring us. The only real discussion about WiiCade I knew about was the whole flap that BrownTown started about our horrible (and non-existent) code theft. That was… uncomfortable. Certainly, though, I think a lot of WiiCade members are very excited about what we’re doing. I mean, this is the first time in history that homebrewers have had an officially sanctioned channel through which to program their hardware. Even Microsoft’s XNA requires a contract (and a chunk of money) to publish your homebrew in binary form!

I’d certainly love to see more of the Wii’s power and features available, but beggars can’t be choosers. 🙂

> I lack interest in the Wiicade API because games developed with it
> are only Wii compatible on the Wiicade site.
> And as far as I can tell, thereâ€™s no multiplayer support as well.

While I don’t run WiiCade, I am privy to a thing or two about these two situations. I’ve used my real email this time (sorry about the mailinator one before, but I’m very cautious with my email address) so why don’t you shoot me an email so we can chat about it? There are a few things that might interest you in respect to these two items, regardless of running code on the Wii.

(Crosses fingers that the formating doesn’t get screwed and smacks “submit”.)

I’m not sure if anyone will see this since it is an old post, but you guys might want to check out wiicade again 😉
Won’t say too much, but I’ll tell you that you might be surprised with the new amazing things that are available at wiicade… let us say that more of the wiimote’s abilites have been unlocked 😉